The tragedy of a false imprisonment and the joy of vindication after 29 years
By and After spending 29 years in prison for the rape of his stepdaughter, a New Orleans man is free thanks to the help of the local district attorney’s office and testimony from the victim herself, who has insisted for 20 years that he is not the man who raped her.
Patrick Brown was convicted of raping his 6-year-old stepdaughter in 1994 after pleading not guilty in a trial in which the victim did not testify – instead, adults testified “to what they believed she had said,” according to a release from the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office.
Since 2002, the stepdaughter had repeatedly asked the DA’s office to review the case and prosecute the actual perpetrator, the release said.
The office’s civil rights division opened an investigation into the victim’s case, found that the evidence corroborated her account and asked the court to rectify the case, according to the release. . . .
Brown was released from prison Monday, immediately following the decision of the criminal district court, delivered by Judge Calvin Johnson, to vacate his conviction. The victim was present and testified, according to the release and court records.